Diagnostic imaging occupies an important position in the field of ophthalmology. In recent years, utilization of optical coherence tomography (OCT) has advanced. OCT is being used not only for acquiring B mode images and three dimensional images of a subject's eye but also for acquiring front images (also referred to as en-face images) such as C mode images and shadowgrams. In addition, OCT is also used for acquiring an image in which a specific site of the subject's eye is emphasized, and acquiring functional information. For example, it is possible to construct a B mode image or a front image in which retinal blood vessels and choroidal blood vessels are emphasized (referred to as a blood vessel enhanced image or an angiogram) based on time series volume data acquired using OCT. Furthermore, a rendering method and a graphical user interface (GUI) for observing a desired slice of the subject's eye have been proposed.
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In the ophthalmic diagnostic imaging, a plurality of images is referred sequentially or as a list. Particularly in OCT diagnostic imaging, the user observes various types of images such as B mode images, front images, morphological images, functional images, and so on. while appropriately changing slice position and slice thickness. However, it has been difficult to smoothly and promptly perform such observation with conventional techniques. For example, when performing observation while switching display images as necessary, it is not possible to re-display the images displayed previously and the images displayed before the previous image with the conventional techniques. Therefore, it has been difficult to smoothly compare the images before and after switching. Further, according to the conventional technique, it is not possible to display in parallel a plurality of images to which similar parameter setting has been applied. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a troublesome work of displaying the next image while confirming the setting contents at the time of switching the display image.